Inspection: The end of

If You Can See It
Evolved DPI – See what’s flowing through your network
You Can 
Monetize It
A c c u r a c y a n d C o n t r o l
R e d e f i n e d
Source: Procera, http://www.proceranetworks.com/images/documents/procera_brochure_web_0620.pdf
The latest DPI assessment from the industry publication Light reading parrots the device manufacturers’ 
claims: “Most important, [DPI] technology also offers service providers new ways of monetizing the 
traffic on their networks.”
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Similarly, Cisco Systems writes, “[B]y identifying services that might be 
riding an operator’s network for free, a provider can truly differentiate its own ‘branded’ VoIP service 
traffic from best-effort traffic or extend QoS guarantees to that third party for a share of the profits.”
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dPI shortChanges Consumers
Network providers can and will use DPI technology to improve their profits at the expense of their 
customers. The technology permits network operators to reduce the amount they spend on network 
upgrades by allowing them to oversell their networks while simultaneously increasing the amount 
the average customer pays, through the creation of new revenue streams.
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Or, in marketing language, 
providers want to “deliver customized service plans that increase customer satisfaction and reduce 
churn.”
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Yes, DPI can help alleviate problems of congestion in a network, thus improving the user experience. 
But the same DPI technology – the same electronics equipment, in fact – also allows providers 
to monitor and monetize every use of the Internet, and DPI vendors succeed by developing and 
marketing this capability. These DPI systems may already be installed in some operators’ networks. A 

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d e e p p a c k e t i n s p e c t i o n : t h e e n d o f t h e i n t e r n e t a s w e k n o w i t ?
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Yankee Group analyst asserts that U.S. ISPs are currently deploying advanced DPI equipment, although 
many do not disclose it publicly.
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Through these secret arrangements, the DPI industry is experiencing 
remarkable growth.
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Precedent, motivation and capability all exist for providers of wireline and wireless Internet services 
to discriminate in the transmission of Internet content in search of new revenue streams. DPI now 
offers capabilities far beyond simply protecting Internet users from harm, and the service providers 
purchasing and installing DPI equipment are well aware of these possibilities. 
If service providers flip the switch and turn on these control mechanisms, it might mean the end of 
the Internet as we know it.

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d e e p p a c k e t i n s p e c t i o n : t h e e n d o f t h e i n t e r n e t a s w e k n o w i t ?
15
e n d n oT e s
1 47 U.S.C. § 202(a) (“It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimination 
in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with like communications 
service….”).
2 See generally FCC Classifies Cable Modem Service as “Information Service”, March 14, 2002, available at http://www.fcc.
gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/2002/nrcb0201.html; FCC Eliminates Mandated Sharing Requirement on Incumbents’ 
Wireline Broadband Internet Services, Aug. 5, 2005, available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-
260433A1.pdf.
3 Appropriate Framework for Broadband Access to the Internet over Wireline Facilities; Review of Regulatory Requirements 
for Incumbent LEC Broadband Telecommunications Services; Computer III Further Remand Proceedings: Bell Operating